'A short history of time' charting the contribution of social development service delivery to enhance child justice 1996-2006

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Date

2007

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Journal of Social Work

Abstract

The starting point of this article has been selected as 1996 for several reasons. That year was characterised by three signal events in the history of child justice in South Africa. First, 1996 heralded the adoption of the Correctional Services Amendment Act 14 of 1996, now infamous as having re-paved the way for the incarceration of children aged below 18 in prisons whilst awaiting trial. This was a step taken to address the (by then) well-known difficulties caused at a practical level by the previous amending legislation of a year earlier (Skelton, 2005:396-403), which sought to prohibit altogether the detention of children in prison after an initial 48-hour period prior to appearance in court.

Description

This article is based on a paper delivered at a conference under the theme “Child justice in South Africa: Children’s rights under construction” held on 1-2 August 2006, an earlier version of which may be published by the Open Society Foundation and the Child Justice Alliance as part of the conference proceedings.

Keywords

South Africa, Child justice, Correctional Services Amendment Act 14 of 1996, Service delivery

Citation

Sloth-Nielsen, J. 2007. 'A short history of time' charting the contribution of social development service delivery to enhance child justice 1996-2006. Journal of Social Work. 43(4),317-328